Democrats renew anti-sequestration push

Reid said says more sequester-focused events will be held in the coming weeks. | AP Photo

By PRIYA ANAND | 7/18/13 5:46 PM EDT

In the calm after the Senate’s filibuster drama earlier this week, Democratic leaders are renewing a mantra that had been under the radar recently: Sequestration needs to end.

Four Democrats joined Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid Thursday to revive their party’s sequester distress signals, following a meeting with an official from the National Institutes of Health – which was struck by $1.55 billion in cuts – that Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) called “one of the most sobering half hours we’ve spent in that room since I’ve served in the Senate.”

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The senators cited a week marked by bipartisanship – after they averted the “nuclear option” following a full-body meeting in the Old Senate Chamber – as reason to make moves to halt the spending cuts that began March 1.

“So today we begin to sound the alarm bells in the campaign to stop sequestration from occurring,” said Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York.

“I hope that this week, with the positive feelings that came out of our meeting at the Old Senate Chamber, that we can move forward in a positive way to come up with a conference committee and come up with an agreed budget resolution between the House and the Senate,” Durbin said.

Reid said his conference will hold more sequester-focused events in the coming weeks to “focus on this like a laser.”